Writing to Change the World: We All Have Stories to Tell

If you read everything you had ever written, would you find yourself reading a story in between the lines? Probably not, but you might start to see patterns in your word choices and topics. Maybe you would see some phrases picked up from your mother or father, or find yourself asking your readers the same questions in different words. Who we are changes how we write, and chapter two of Writing to Change the World emphasizes this difference. We aren't just robots, doomed to repitition in acting exactly like all of the other automatons around us, but individuals with differing experiences and emotions and choices, each with our own flaws that make our writings unique.

Have you written outside of this class? Do you have a journal or a blog, a fictional tale that you've made in your own time? I think that nothing says more about us than our labors of love, the things on which we spend our extra time. I don't think this is restricted to writing, but I do think that we can learn more about ourselves when our observations can already be described in words. Maybe it's time to look back on the things you've made, the things you've written, the things you've done, and examine them. Maybe it's time for me to read through the fiction I've written over the years, to find the patterns and clues and to dig a little deeper once I have. 

"We all have stories to tell,"(40) writes Pipher. We may not know exactly what those stories mean for us until we stop experiencing them for a moment and just read.